About the HKCO

Chairman's Message
Artistic Director /
Principal Conductor

Orchestra Members
Council Members
Administration Staff

Press Releases
Opportunities

   

Structure

During the last 30 years, the Artistic Department has expanded from 50 musicians to the present 88. It now includes an Artistic Director/ Principal Conductor, an Associate Conductor, a Research Fellow, a Research Development Officer (Musical Instrument), a Concertmaster and Assistant Conductor, a Deputy Concertmaster and Principal, Section Leader and Principals (2), Principals (12), Assistant Principals (9) and musicians (59). The Orchestra has four sections: bowed-strings, plucked-strings, wind and percussion, which incorporate traditional and modernized Chinese instruments as well as suitable western instruments.

 


 

   

Chew Hee-chiat   Resident Conductor

Chew Hee-chiat is currently Resdient Conductor of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. He was able to play many types of Chinese musical instruments when he was in secondary school, and later received lessons in composition from Saw Boon Kiat of Malaysia and renowned composer Qian Zhaoxi of China. He received higher education in the United States and graduated from the Southeast Missouri State University with a double bachelor's degree in cello performance and computer science in 1994. He went on to read a postgraduate course at the University of South Carolina under Dr Donald Portnoy, and was awarded a Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting in 1996.

Chew has been dedicated to conducting and orchestral development for Chinese orchestras since 1996. He was Music Director of the Professional Cultural Centre Orchestra (PCCO) of Malaysia before joining the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra in June 2002. Since then he has been playing an active role in the numerous concerts of the Orchestra, not only assisting in conducting but also working on music arrangement and instrumentation. In March 2004, he guest conducted the Singapore Chinese Orchestra in a highly successful concert, A Nanyang Musical Voyage II. It was followed by the Opening Rally of the Hong Kong Dizi and Xiao Festival in 2005, in which more than 500 players performed his work, A Celebration of Dizi, under his baton. The event achieved a new Guinness Book of Records as having the largest number of people playing the dizi at the same time. In May 2008, the concert Rising Stars of HKCO, featuring Chew and the Orchestra's young artists, showed the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra In a refreshingly new light.

As conductor of the Hong Kong Junior Chinese Orchestra since 2003, Chew has been actively participating in the education aspect of the Orchestra’s development roadmap. He also hosts many bilingual workshops to introduce Chinese music and Chinese instruments to audiences in Hong Kong and other parts of the world. In 2009, when the HKCO partnered with YouTube to become the YouTube Symphony, Chew was highly commended for his arrangement of Tan Dun's Internet Symphony - Eroica for Chinese orchestra.

Conducting aside, Chew is an active composer as well. His works have characteristic features that demonstrate his Southeast Asian cultural heritage. They include Orchestra Suite No.1 and Orchestra Suite No.2, which won him the second runner-up prize in the International Competition for Chinese Orchestral Compositions 2000 organized by the HKCO; The Third, which won him the Outstanding Composition Award in the Chinese Music Competition 2002 organized by the Council for Cultural Affairs in Taiwan; Fantasy Dance (a Hong Kong premiere); and Tradition? for bangdi and small orchestra (a Singapore premiere).

 


 
Yuen Shi-chun 
Research Fellow, Research and Development Department
Research & Development Officer (Musical Instrument)

Yuen Shi-chun was born into a family of architects in Hong Kong, having studied civil engineering himself. He joined the newly formed Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra in 1974 and was appointed Liuqin Principal. He has been the Research and Development Officer (Musical Instrument) ever since the position was created in 2003.

Yuen is currently also serving as an executive member of the China Nationalities Orchestra Society, Vice President of the China Society for the Management and Research on Scientific & Technological Achievements - Cultural Chapter, and a consultant to many manufacturers of musical instruments in China and other parts of the world. In 1993, he was made a member of the Expert Group on the Improvement of Musical Instruments under the Ministry of Culture, and sat on the Adjudication Committee for Technology Advancement Award. He was presented the Award for Arts Achievement (Music) by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2003.

For the past three decades, Yuen has performed in more than 2,500 concerts of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. In his spare time, he has been conducting a self-financed project dedicated to the design, research and making of Chinese instruments. Instruments revived or improved under his hand number more than twenty, such as the Tang-style ruanxian, the quxiang (crooked-neck) pipa, the wuxian (five-string) pipa, the Qing-style pipa and the Qinqin. The modified models of liuqin with double resonators and ruanxian that he modified and improved won a Class Two Technology Advancement Award (1992 and 1996), and his ruanxian series won a National Class Three Technology Advancement Award (1998) from the Ministry of Culture of China. The Eco-huqin Series that he first developed in 2005 has since turned out new models of the gaohu, erhu, zhonghu, gehu and double-bass gehu that have been adopted by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. Through reviving ancient instruments and improving modern instruments, Yuen has opened up new horizons in academic research and in the performing arts, therefore casting influence on the international music scene and academic sectors.

 


 
Yim Hok-man    Concertmaster*, Associate Director of the HKCO Orchestral Academy and Section Leader (Percussion)

Yim Hok-man is a renowned percussionist with more than forty years of performing experience. Accomplished in percussion instruments of both east and west, Yim has won popular and critical acclaim in various parts of the world.

Yim began learning to drum when he was ten. At 14, he was admitted to the Music School affiliated to the Central Philharmonic Orchestra of China to study western percussion music for five years. After graduating with distinction, he joined the Central Philharmonic Orchestra as a percussionist and stayed with it for 20 years. During that period, he also learned Peking Opera percussion music as well as Zhoushan Gong and Drum Music under virtuosi in the two performing art forms.

During the 1970s, he was on tour with the China Arts Troupe to Japan and the US, where his performance of Zhoushan Gong and Drum Music was warmly received.  In the 1980s, he diligently studied the art of Xian Drum Music and Chaozhou Gongs and Drums.  In July 1989, he was soloist in the concert series The Art of Chinese Percussion in Hong Kong. 

During the 1990s, Yim took part in many music and arts festivals, including the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the Macau International Arts Festival, the International Music Festival, the 1998 World Expo at Lisbon, the Taipei International Percussion Festival, the National Drum Competition for the 24 Solar Terms held in Malaysia, the Cannes Film Festival in France.  Yim has given many touring performances as a member of a delegation or orchestra, etc.  The places he has visited include the US, Canada, Germany, France, Austria, Holland, Portugal, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Macau and many cities in China. 

His solo albums Master of Chinese Percussion - Yim Hok-man (1) and Master of Chinese Percussion - Yim Hok-man (2) are considered quintessential representation of Yim's knowledge of percussion.  Released for international distribution in 1998 and 1999, they were highly acclaimed in the music and acoustics milieux, and are selling very well in every part of the world.

Yim is currently a member of the China Nationalities Orchestra Society, an honorary member of the Percussion Society under the auspices of the Chinese Musicians' Association, an honorary executive committee member of the Professional Percussionists Council of the China Nationalities Orchestra Society and the Shaanxi Percussion Society of China. He joined the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra in 1984, and is currently Associate Director of the HKCO Orchestral Academy,  Concertmaster* cum Percussion Principal. He is also a part-time lecturer in percussion at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Yim was named "Artist of the Year 1999" by the Hong Kong Artists' Guild.

 


 

Gaohu

Hsin Hsiao-ling
Principal#
Wong lok-ting
Assistant Principal*
Chu YungCheng YutingNg Kwok-kwong
Zhou YiNgai Kwun-wa


Erhu

Hsin Hsiao-hung
Principal#
Zhao Lei
Principal*
Wong YungTo Shek-chorSze Poon-chong
Xu HuiTong Koon-yanLu Yunxia Zhang ChongxueSiu Sau-han
  
So Shun-yin   


Zhonghu

Liu Yang
Principal#
Hui Yin
Assistant Principal
Mao QinghuaWong Chi-wahChang Hung-chung
Pang Yui-singSiu Sau-lanHan Jingna


Gehu

Tung Hiu-lo
Principal
Lo Chun-wo
Assistant Principal
An YueHe WeiTng Kin-seng
Cheung King-muiWan Man-leungNgai Hon-yip


Bass Gehu

Chan Kung-ki
Principal
Lee Pak-waiVonghemrat PichanQi HongweiLi Wei


Wong Chi Ching Section Leader (Plucked-strings)

Born into a musical family, Wong Chi Ching entered the China Broadcast Chinese Orchestra in 1976 and the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra in 1987. Currently, she is the Section Leader of Plucked-strings and Pipa Principal of the Orchestra. Since 1995, she has been learning Peking Opera under Bao Youdie.

Wong is a versatile pipa artiste with a rich repertoire that comprises works by different composers, in different styles and at different times. Noted for her pure tone colour and artistic appeal, she is praised by critics as “musical, also artistically and technically proficient? Wong is a much sought-after soloist, having collaborated with the Philippines Symphony Orchestra, Taipei Municipal Chinese Orchestra, Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta and the Central Folk Orchestra of China.

Wong is also a keen supporter of modern music. In October 1995, at the ISCM World Music Days Festival held in Hong Kong, Wong performed two new works by local composer, Law Wing-fai, Shake n’Roll and Ink Spirit for pipa and strings quartet with great success. Then in April 1996, she participated in an innovative performance that integrated music with dance entitled Zi Lian Kuang. In her performance of King Chu Doffs His Armour with the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, she added a cadenza where she sang with her own accompaniment on the pipa.

In January 1997, Wong performed at the Composers Seminar organized by the Taipei Municipal Chinese Orchestra in Taiwan. In March of the same year, she performed a zhongruan concerto Remembrance of Yunnan with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. In June 1997, she performed a symphonic piece When Mountains Roar for Chinese-Western orchestra with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. After receiving critical acclaim in the 2000 Hong Kong Arts Festival programme “Pipa Images? she gave a highly successful performance with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta at Saint-Riquier Festival in France next year.


Pipa

 
Shui Man-lungZhang YingLaw Wing-wah


Yangqin

Li Tak-kong
Principal
Yu Mei-lai


Zheng / Konghou

Luo Jing


Liuqin / Xiaoruan

 
 Ge Yang
Principal
Cui Can


Zhongruan

 
Cheng Yin
Principal
Chan Shuk-harLiang Wai-man  


Daruan

 
Chan Kam-fai  


Daruan / Zhongruan

Liu Hsin-lin


Sanxian / Zhongruan

Zhao Taisheng


Sun Yongzhi Section Leader (Wind)

Sun Yongzhi entered the Xian Conservatory of Music in 1977 where he was trained by Yuan Xiuhe and dizi maestro Zhao Songting.   After graduating with distinction in 1982, he stayed on at the Conservatory to teach.  He was appointed Dizi Principal of Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra in 1997, and is currently also the Section Leader (Wind).  Sun also teaches dizi at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

Apart from teaching, Sun is a recording artiste, having recorded for many productions in film and television and studio work.  He was the lead player in the film soundtrack music Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker and The True Hearted by Zhao Jiping, the famous composer in film music.  He has also won in many dizi competitions in China.

Sun has been on many overseas tours as a member of the delegations of China Youth Arts Troupe, the Shaanxi Cultural Exchange Group, the Xian Musicians Ensemble and the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra.  The countries he has visited include the United States, France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Switzerland, the Middle East and Japan.

 


Bangdi

Choo Boon-chong
Dizi Assistant
Principal
Tam Po-shek


Xindi & Dadi

Chan Hung-yin
Dizi Assistant
Principal
Lin Yu-hsien


Soprano Sheng

Cheng Tak-wai
Sheng
Principal
Luk Yi


Alto Sheng

So Siu-fun


Bass Sheng

Li Sau-fat


Soprano Suona

Guo Yazhi
Suona
Principal
Kot Kai-lik


Alto Suona

Xia Boyan
Suona Assistant
Principal
Law Hang-leing


Alto Suona

Li Ching-fong


Soprano/Bass Suona

Liu Hai


Soprano/Alto/Bass Guan

Lo Wai-leun
Guan
Principal
Ren ZhaoliangQin Jitao


Percussion

Wang Dong
Assistant Principal
Ronald Chin
Assistant Principal
Gao ShanChan SanLiao Yi-ping


Members’ names are listed in Chinese stroke order
* Acting
# Serve as Acting Section Leader (Bowed-strings) by rotation

 

Freelance Musician
  Gaohu   He Tao
Gaohu Shao Lin
  Erhu   Szeto Kin
  Zhongruan   Lem Lingling
  Zheng   Chui Mei-ting
  Harp   Tam Wai-li

 
Qudi Chan Chi-yuk
Alto Sheng Leung Yan-chiu
Percussion Chau Chin-tung
Percussion   Fu Ye-chung, Andus
Percussion   Luk Kin-bun

 
  Guest Artis    
  Soprano Sheng      Zhu Jia Ming  
The HKCO Orchestral Academy
  Co-organizer: Xi’an Conservatory of Music / Director: Zhao Jiping
  Intern    
  Huqin  Zhang Jiwen           Pipa/Ruan   Ni Huidi            Pipa/Ruan   Zhao Jing